The subject invention relates to a fungi growth resistant kraft paper, facings made with the fungi resistant kraft paper for faced building insulation assemblies, such as but not limited to faced building insulation assemblies commonly used to insulate homes and other residential building structures; offices, stores and other commercial building structures; and industrial building structures, and to the faced building insulation assemblies faced with such facings. The kraft paper facings of the subject invention are designed to exhibit improved fungi growth-inhibiting characteristics and may also exhibit other improved performance characteristics, such as but not limited to water vapor permeance ratings designed for particular applications, and improved functionality to improve installer productivity.
Building insulation assemblies currently used to insulate buildings, especially fiberglass building insulations, are commonly faced with kraft paper facings, such as 30-40 lbs/3MSF (30 to 40 pounds/3000 square feet) natural kraft paper. In addition, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,733,624; 5,746,854; 6,191,057; and 6,357,504 disclose examples of polymeric facings for use in faced building insulation assemblies and U.S. patent application Nos. US 2002/0179265 A1; US 2002/0182964 A1; and US 2002/0182965 A1 disclose examples of polymeric-kraft laminates for use in faced building insulation assemblies.
While building insulation assemblies faced with such kraft paper facings function quite well, have been used for decades, and the patents listed above disclose kraft paper facing materials as well as alternative facing materials, there has remained a need for facings with improved performance characteristics. The improved kraft paper of the subject invention, the improved kraft paper facings of the subject invention, and the building insulation assemblies faced with the improved kraft paper facings of the subject invention provide faced insulation assemblies designed to exhibit improved fungi growth-inhibiting characteristics over current kraft paper facings commonly used to face insulation assemblies. The facings of the subject invention may also exhibit improved pest control characteristics, exhibit other improved performance characteristics (e.g. reduced flame spread, reduced smoke development and/or improved water vapor permeance ratings), and/or enable improved installer productivity or other cost savings.